Cafe Milano

For last week's coffee club, we headed to Cafe Milano in Kloof Street.

It's situated next to Manna Epicure and opposite Cafe Paradiso. They have a cute little balcony-type area where we wanted to sit but since Cape Town is a bit nipples-cold, we had to move inside.

The vibe inside is just as nice. There are loads of fancy jams and pre-packaged goodies like biscuits and preserves on one side. On the other is a little doorway to a enclosed cafe area, which would be nice if you wanted to avoid the hustle and bustle of the morning crowd.

We go there on the dot at 7 so they were still setting up the place and packing out the delicious baked goods they're most known for. But at 7h20, the place was full of early business breakfasts, residents getting their morning coffee (we even saw a lady in her slippers) and people on their way to work.

As we got there early, I didn't manage to get pictures of the packed fridges displaying all the delicious-looking pastries and treats. I can say that the coffee was sublime and that arrived really fast. For someone like me who considers 7am very early, this was a godsend.

So we'll have to be back to try out the rest but if you're in the mood for a delicious and quick coffee, this is the place to go.

Cafe Milano
153 Kloof Street
07h00 to 17h00

Ex-Oh! Ex-Oh!

Things I'm not that embarassed about, but perhaps should be

1. Listening to Celine Dion 3:00 on a Saturday afternoon, even while your roomate is giving you weird looks

2. It takes 1 Cosmopolitan to get you tipsy

3. Going to bed at 9:30pm is like heaven

4. Walking to the shops to get groceries without even putting on a bra

5. Hating FIFA for bringing the World Cup to SA and then selfishly taking it away after 1 month...where have all the foreign men gone?

6. Writing to do lists of things you have already completed just so you can scratch them out and feel you have accomplished something

7. Wearing shoes out when you know they need to be re-heeled and they make that clippity-cloppity noise

8. Painting over your chipped nails instead of re-painting them just because you can't be bothered

9. Wearing long pants for a full week straight because again, you can't be bothered to shave your legs

10. Watching 4 episodes of House when you should be seen out and about in Kloof street

11. Thinking your roomates dream about raccoons is a direct result of the fact that she wont let you bring the family cat to come and live with the two of you

12. Secretly hoping someone will steal your broken-down excuse for a car so you can by a new one with the insurance money

13. Letting your eyes roll back in to your head as you munch away at a Cadbury's mint crisp tart chocolate bar

14. Believing that Ryan Reynolds is secretly miserable without you

Skinny Bitches Progress Report

We thought it was time for an update on the various aspects of our lives, here's the low down.

Fabulous Apartment: CHECK

We absolutely love living in town, especially as we're just off Kloof and we all know Kloof is where it's at. We have many friends telling us that Sea Point is the new hub or that a stylish new modern apartment is the way to go, we completely disagree. Where else can you walk to your favourite restraurants and shops and have the amount of room space we have. Plus in this extreme heat, we're very lucky that our apartment is really cool. Plus the daily entertainment we get from our neighbours makes it worth it, who'd needs Reality TV.

Boys: TBC

We're super amped up fro the World Cup. Not only because the atmosphere and party seen will be amazing, but becuase the foreign boys will soon be gracing our shores. Us Skinny Bitches have personally taken it upon ourselves to be the Cape Town Welcoming Commitee. SP yo may catch glimpses of us at the airport, Dubliner, Waterfront and generally walking up and down Long & Kloof street. We've got our World Map and language guides ready in hand. VIVA CAPE TOWN 2010

Zero-Waists: CHECK

Green Eyes is still hitting the gym and I'm pleasantly watching her leave the apartment to go to the gym. Except for a dodgy tan and some 'maintainance' issues, we're happy with the progress we're making on our size zero-waists (and all that it entails)

High Heels: CHECK

Althought the funds are low, did you know it was actually possible for your salary to decrease? It's called medical aid and inflation. However, clothign and fashion are still important to us and so we sacrifice eating nice food for having new clothes and shoes. I recently hit one of those 'everything for R90' sles at the Riverclub and scored big time. Heads-up, if you don't get there earlety (7am) then don't even bother. It was definately worth it and now I am pleasantly satisfied with my wardrobe additions.

Plans: CHECK

I've added Plans to the checklist. It's good to have plans so you have some things to look forward to. So upcoming plans for us are a Kelly Clarkson concert, Friends birthdays, Girls weekend away in April, trip overseas, World Cup 2010 (yes, it's a plan) and many more to follow.
P.S. we've just discovered Deco-Dane (yes a little late), but absoultely love the place, definately more trips there.

Careers: can we just leave this blank for now and pretend it never came up :)

S.B.

Shopping, Style and A Return To Happiness

Last week was not a good week. But I am happy to report that the bad vibes are gone and I am feeling much better. For a start my skin is clearing up. Largely to these great products from the new Dermalogica range, Clean Start. They’re for teenage and young-adult skin. I might act like a teenager most of the time but my birth certificate states otherwise. I’m currently using the scrub and mask duo. It’s a-mazing! You apply it like a mask, let it set and then you wet your fingertips and massage it in and tada! It’s an exfoliating scrub. I’m also using the spot treatment and I’m hooked. If it was a guy I’d dedicate him cheesy love songs and write his name all over my notepad.

In other news, shopping played a major part in the past weekend. Both grocery and personal shopping. It’s really nice to have a well-stocked kitchen again after that bad week before you get paid. I take advantage of my mom and dad’s house a lot that week. On the shopping front, I really needed some new shoes. I was hoping to get a pair of gladiator heels for some summer loving. There is this Jimmy Choo pair that I absolutely love. And I found a local equivalent. But sadly they didn’t look as good. So I’m still on the hunt for those. In the meantime, I bought a cute pair of black peep-toes that I cannot wait to wear. I also bought a black Grecian dress. It’s long and flowy and makes “the girls” look amazing. Now I’m looking for some gold rope to create a make-shift belt.

Based on the trends in the shops, Grecian along with boho chic and the 80s will be huge. I don’t want to be a trend victim so I’m approaching these trends with caution. Especially after this past weekend. I walked into Jay-Jays hoping to construct the perfect hipster look. I do live in the city centre now, you know ;). I gravitated towards the coloured jeans, slogan tees, cardigans and wet look leggings. But then I found myself next to a group of 12 year-olds who were obviously doing the same. They were dressed head-to-toe in skinny jeans, converse shoes and tight tees. I swear if I looked in their bags, they would all have multi-coloured wayfarers. That was then I realized I was so not going to try and follow a trend. But rather incorporate a trend into my personal style. While I cannot pull off brightly coloured skinny jeans, I can rock skinny jeans with some killer heels. While every other hipster is sporting boyfriend cardigans and tights instead of pants, I will be donning a boyfriend cardi and a cute dress. What I lack in warfarers I will be making up in trilbys.

So far it’s been a good week. I’d rather it be weekend but I can deal till then. Hope everyone else is having a good one.

Ex-Oh! Ex-Oh!

Summer Loving

The weather in Cape Town has been funny lately. On Saturday we had that fabulous sunny day where we could all wear dresses, drink wine in the sun and wear sunnies. On Sunday I also wore a dress, with a cardi but still the weather was pleasant. Since Monday however, it has been nipples cold and we’re all forced to wear dozens of layers. As I cannot do anything but dream of summer, I thought I’d better start preparing for it. This is when all the overseas fashion websites are tres helpful as they are coming out of summer and we’re going into it. Lots of summer outfit inspiration. I’ve been viewing Polyvore like it’s my job.

Here’s what I’ve come up with:

After Sunset Cocktails

I am in love with this purple Marchesa dress I found on Net-A-Porter. I would rock it with champagne pink peep-toes, black corsage on my hand, dark, smokey eye make-up and a cosmopolitan.

City Strolling

Considering I now live in the hipster hood of Kloof Street, I have to keep up with the cool kids. This cool yet stylish ensemble is how I'm going to do it. The dress and shoes are all me, and the fedora is just a touch of hip. The Chanel sunnies are of course out of reach but they would bring a touch of class to the look.

Working 9-5

I work in an office that's very casual. People can wear outfits two days in a row and walk around sans shoes. I am not one of those people. Because I always dress for the job I want rather than the one I have, I make an effort. This look is so effortlessly chic. The blue Louboutins are of course a rather large pipe dream but they are just fabulous.

Now all I need is the moolah to go shopping.

Ex-Oh! Ex-Oh!

Monday's Mantra

This week we are independent women living in our new flat.
I believe in faith, push-up bras and fat-free sweets.
I'm addicted to Kloof Street.
I wish my co-workers didn't bug me so much.
I'm jealous of no one today.
Soundtrack/Mantra for the week Finally it's happening to me!

I Love This City

This weekend I had planned to do almost nothing and just chill. I almost achieved that. Friday night was spent eating pizza, watching The Wedding Singer and gushing about the new flat (we still cannot believe it). Saturday I rented the third season of The Closer starring Kyra Sedgwick. She’s the one who married Ren McCormick. Sorry I mean Kevin Bacon. I’m a huge Footloose fan. The third season has been awesome! I’d love to be a ball-busting, well-dressed deputy chief of the LAPD but it looks like a lot of work.

Sunday, Little Brother ( I have two brothers, both older than me but this one is the youngest of the two) and I went to breakfast at Liquorice and Lime where I had the most amazing omelette. My craving was met! They even made it with sweet chilli sauce. I was in heaven. Inspired by Desi, I decided to make the most of the city and visited the Holocaust Centre. (By the way Desi, I was wrong, the centre is free but the R50 entry is for the Jewish Museum). I had been before when I was in high school but this time I enjoyed (if that’s the right word) it more. It was so well-presented and powerful. They had an actual prison outfit worn by a Jewish prisoner from a labour camp. I was dying to touch it. But the glass case and the security guard made it that much harder.

Afterwards my brother went back to his flat and I decided to do some window shopping in Kloof Street. If you had known about the weather in Cape Town yesterday you would have thought I was crazy. It was raining constantly not to mention freezing. As Kloof Street is my soon-to-be ‘hood, I decided to take some time and check out the place. And I absolutely loved it! I got a latte, bought some groceries, rented some more dvds and I got to show off my pink umbrella. Whilst everyone else was running for cover, I was skipping along enjoying the city. I cannot wait till this becomes a regular occurrence.

Because of my huge love for this city, I was saddened by this article by UK football journalist Louise Taylor. She’s such a meanie and says all the wrong things. Egypt deserves the World Cup ‘cause they built the pyramiads? Seriously WTF? Yes SA has flaws but we still rock. And the World Cup next year is going to be awesome! I just hope this woman doesn’t come here. But if she does she better not meet me after five cosmos. I’m not such a lady then. Like Carrie Bradshaw I am also in a relationship with my city, “And I can’t have no one talking shit about my boyfriend.”

Ex-Oh! Ex-Oh!

News of the World of Skinny Bitches

This past weekend, the Skinny Bitches and a dozen friends ventured into the countryside for a weekend away. While some of us are more adapting to the country life, I was a teensy bit hesitant. With no city noise, no hair straighteners and having seen The Hills Have Eyes one too many times, I was no fan of the outdoors. What we got however was enough to make me even venture back. We stayed in two fabulous self-catering cottages on the Breede River smack-bang in the middle of wine country. If I still had any fears I drank them way. I have now decided spending a weekend any other way than drunk is just not fun at all. I wonder if I can become a wine-taster when I grow up.

Spending three days with four types of couples makes you think. Mostly I was thinking how fabulous it is to be single when seeing some relationships up close. Now I know an outsider can never really know what is happening in other people's relationships but jeez louise, I feel sorry for guys sometimes. Most of the bad stuff I witnessed in coupledom was coming from my female friends. I know girls can be bitches to each other but I have never realised how hard it is for a guy. I saw grown men being shouted at for drinking, having fun and wanting to start a fire. I saw girls punish their boyfriends for past discretions that should have been forgotten by now. I also saw one couple so in love they didn't have a problem all weekend (these were the gays who are now my relationship role models). But most of all I saw myself swearing off relationships. Please people, give me hope they're not all like this.

The best news, and the reason we drank so much, was that Skinny Bitches are OFFICIALLY moving out.The lease has been signed, the deposit's been paid and we're sooooo excited. Finally our dream of nearly a year has been accomplished. We'll be moving into a fabulous two bedroom flat near Kloof Street on 1st August. First come the jobs, the flat and then hopefully the boys!

Ex-Oh! Ex-Oh!

Final 2 Contenders in our Flat Search

We've finally found two contenders for our new home after us both seeing them and discussing our decision tipsily over Cosmo's at Neighbourhood. Those 2-for-1 cocktail specials are amazing. It's our thing. Us Skinny Bitches like to hit neighbourhood where we have a heart-to-heart coversation over cosmopolitans, nachos' and hong-kong chicken wings. I don't think we could get any happier when we're doing this. But back to the matter at hand.
YES, we've found two places and we're going to essentially apply for both on monday. We've decided on the Arnold's place as our no: 1 contender and Belaza as our no: 2. They are both pretty much the same, the only difference being the proximity to Kloof St and Long St 'our hood'. So for that reason, and that reason only, we are applying for Arnold's place. Cross your fingers please because us Skinny Bitches do not need more heartache right now.

SB